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Old Flames
Black Market The fabled black market of Monacus is a somewhat small area about the size of a half of football field. Several junk dealers, part suppliers, and weapon sellers do their business from this area. Several tarp covered tables and shops are placed around the area. Rogues, thieves, and mercenaries walk the area looking for a kill, or to sell their illegal wares. If one is looking to put a hit out on somebody, this is a good place to find that type of worker as well. Almost anything imaginable is in this market, if you know where to look, who to ask, or know what to bring to get your prize. Contents: Dreadwind Decepticon Shuttle Blue Hovercar Obvious exits: East leads to Dim Alleyway. Nightbeat and Monacus go together like fire and water - iconic, but someone's gonna get steamed. He tried to take Swoop shopping once and ended up a wanted man. Undaunted, he's shopping again, this time alone. He doesn't quite look himself - Galvatron torched his armour, and Spike couldn't get the exact replacements in. So he looks very... generic. To top it off, he's painted himself gloss black with thin gunmetal pinstriping. Very mobster. Nightbeat supposes he should come back from vacation sometime - he's overdue, isn't he? But Monacus is full of these leggy dames who cry so prettily, that he just can't resist helping them find their lost brothers, and of course, they're always secretly working for the Brandaxian yakuza, and... ...Monacus is a real distracting place for a detective. Right now, however, he's picking through the wares of a photography stall, looking at the flashes. Dreadwind and people go together like oil and water and as if to prove a point he has been apparently dumped in a side alley after being beaten unconscious, well that or he just collapsed there after he realised that not a single person on Monacus wanted to be near him just like on Cybertron and Earth. Astrotrain, conversely, goes together with Monacus like smashing atoms, like gas fumes and an open flame, like David Spade and Chris Farley. Even after all the shenanigans the Decepticons have perpetrated on Monacus as of late, the triplechanger always finds some way to worm his way in around where the seedier types hang out. Usually because he's typically throwing around his pay like it's going out of style and one of the best customers of the local drinking establishments. Word has it that the proprieter of his favorite bar was able to send all thirty of his hideous tentacled children off to prestigious intergalactic universities on what Astrotrain has paid him over the centuries. And this will be no exception to that fine record, as the triplechanger sits out on an upper balcony, in a favorite seat and with feet propped up as he sips energon out of one of those cups with a little umbrella sticking out of it. This is the life. Nightbeat is, indeed overdue from vacation, bad enough that it's been decided that /someone/ should bring him back. And so the logical person to send to fetch something (or someone) is on his here! Blurr's been following Nightbeat's transponder signal, though he's allowed himself to get distracted once or twice on the way, which has delayed him a bit. A whole minute, even! The hovercar is currently driving what is to him a painfully slow pace, and what is to everyone else a disruptive breeze that zips by before it can be fully be registered. He doesn't spot Nightbeat, because Nightbeat doesn't look like himself, but as soon as he passes the PI he knows he's gotten off course again. "Woah woah woah I passed him how'd I pass him I didn't mean to pass him I was paying attention that time and everything so how'd he get behind me when he was just in front of me I remember him being in front of me the signal was right there but now it's behind me!" he rambles out as he swerves around. Hi-Test has arrived. Dreadwind drops Hi-Test. Nightbeat has not yet noticed Dreadwind unconscious in the alley, because while his hearing and vision are excellent, Dreadwind isn't really moving or making any noise. Astrotrain up on the balcony... Nightbeat briefly keeps tabs on the Triple-Changer, looking at his reflection in the scope of a camera attachment. But that breeze, that babbling breeze, that could only be... Blurr. Nightbeat groans and sets down the camera scope in the bin. Dealer has arrived. Astrotrain is in the midst of regaling some of the locals with some of his tales of conquests and general kick-aft actions that he no doubt has plenty of. In his mind at least. Waving his drink-holding hand around dangerously close to clipping other passers-by, he speaks on to his crowd of three-headed and one-eyed observers, "So this Autobot's gettin all smug, right? Cause I'm busy beatin up his buddies and the fragger keeps sneak-attackin me while my back's turned. He didn't expect me to get my hands on a freakin cannon though! I always knew Sixshot had some practical use. I took his gun mode and I totally smeared that fragger right outta the sky, most fun I ever had since Megatron let me blow Superion to pieces!" "I thought Megatron didn't exist anymore." One of the listeners pipes up, until he's laid out of his seat by a fist to the face from the triplechanger. "Pay attention, willya? OBVIOUSLY the boss was in a temporary replacement body at the time that he just happened to have lyin around! Sheesh. Fraggin newbies." Hi-Test walks out of a nearby drinking establishment a big grin ion his face and a fist full of energon credits in hand and heads straight for Dreadwind. On getting back to his partner he just shakes his head and sighs, "Awww come on Dreadwind it's not that bad, I bet you we can find one person on the planet that'll like you, you know besides me. People come and go all the time, all different species too. So what do you say? You going to get up and we can go look, i'm sure it won't take long." Dreadwind stirs, though his optics remain as dull as ever, anyone looking would think him badly injured from the achingly slow movement as he painfully rises to his feet, "All we will find is trouble, we shall be eaten alive by the violence and suffering that is the true currency of this world.... this universe..." He stares across the street if he sees either of the Autobots or even Astrotrain he doesn't react or doesn't care. Dealer goes with Monacus like chocolate and marshmallow, or like two sides of the same coin. VERY much like two sides of the same coin, in fact, that is a fantastic analogy. "What happened then? Didn't they all come after you?" he asks from the crowd around Astrotrain, incognito thanks to his rubsign. Blue Hovercar drives for Nightbeat, once more following his transponder signal. He's yet to spot either Dreadwind-in-alley or Astrotrain-above, but that's because he's looking for Nightbeat. No, he's... driving right by Nightbeat. Again. "Wait a minute his signal showed that he was right in front of me but I didn't see him because if I had seen him I would have stopped only I didn't so I kept going only now the signal is behind me!" He swerves so hard and so quickly that he would screech had he the tires for it. Nightbeat twitches, just a little, as he hears the story from the balcony. He seems to recall that it ends with Nightbeat driven into the ground and Firestar melted and Fairway kidnapped. Then, the master of disguise realises that Blurr is zipping around and not finding him. Should he let Blurr know? The detective ponders this for a moment. A good Autobot would help out the poor courier. Nightbeat isn't a very good Autobot. He reaches for a flash, turning it over in his hands, and he asks the market vendor, "Where are the paparazzi specials? The kind that are guaranteed to give celebrities that stupid turbofox in the headlight look?" Astrotrain blinks as one of the peanut gallery (Dealer) pipes up with a question. Though he didn't catch who it originated from, he simply snorts. "Pfft, see them big mergy types are all tough and such but they ain't able to handle it so well when they get forcibly taken apart, ya know?" He makes a gun-shape with his hand and pantomies shooting off at something in the distance. "When that overgrown toy soldier fell ta pieces, them Aerialbots weren't in any good shape to do much about it after too. The Boss has the kinda firepower that makes that stuff happen. It's pretty awesome to hold it in yer hands." He takes another long pull from his drink, draining the container, then crunching it up, before glancing down into the street where he sees a familiar blue hovercar zipping about. "...aw for, who invited the losers?" With that, he takes careful aim with the crunched up drink before giving it a toss in Blurr's direction. Combat: Astrotrain sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Astrotrain misses Blue Hovercar with his Beer Can! (Grab) attack! Astrotrain totally misses his target and hits something else he didn't intend to. Probably something big and with a bad temper. Hi-Test sighs again at his partner but at least the gloomicon is standing on his own two feet, "Come on then, we'll find you a friend on the way to the docks, I've got a tip that i can purchase some of that stuff i told you i was looking for." Hi-Test starts to walk off slowly which oddly matches Dreadwind's painfully slow speed trudge so the pair remain relatively close to each other as they leave the alley. "We won't find any, the resource is called rareitium for a reason and even if we do find it we won't be able to afford it..." Hi-Test just nods and smiles, "Oh i'm sure we can persuade them to give us a good deal." Then a can bounces off of Dreadwind's head, he doesn't seem to notice much except for a pained utterance of "Typical..." Blue Hovercar slows down this time. It's painful. It's tedious. It's... really easy to let himself get distracted, when it comes right down to it. "Oh, hey, what's that?" he starts as he passes a stall selling a strange assortment of gizmos and devices. He transforms and points at one of them. "That one looks really strange I mean what are all those arms for and all those pointy bits I mean can it actually do something because looking at it it doesn't look like it could possibly do anything and HEY!" This last word happens as he flicks his head out of the path of Astrotrain's drink can. "What'd you do that for I wasn't doing anything to you and - DECEPTICON!" he shouts as he realizes who it is. Meanwhile, behind him, the big something with a bad temper starts to turn around. "Hey! Watch what you're doing!" he yells at Blurr, taking him to be the source of the big guy's problems. Blue Hovercar transforms into his Blurr mode. Nightbeat really should maybe see about helping Blurr, especially since Astrotrain is throwing a can around - and oh, that's Dreadwind over there, isn't it? And someone big and ugly. His fingers twitch, and he starts to turn, but the vendor replies, "Oh, /those/. Under the counter." The vendor reaches down to show Nightbeat the illicit flash, and Nightbeat stays. Astrotrain watches as he...doesn't quite hit what he was aiming at. Though hitting Dreadwind isn't totally bad, is it? "Oh great, it's Captain Giggles..." he mutters, then watches as the can ricochets and hits a rather large alien in the process, who seems to think Blurr did it. Leave it to Astrotrain to want to stir up trouble too. "He insulted your mother too!" He pipes up for good measure, pointing towards Blurr. "...or father? Predecessor? Whatever your species has!" "How /dare/ you!" growls the... thing as it lumbers towards Blurr. Of course, to get to Blurr he has to pass rather near Dreadwind, who was more or less between them. Meanwhile, Blurr backs up, hands up to show that he's unarmed. "Wait a minute I didn't say that I don't even know your mother or father or predecessor or whatever your species has so I wouldn't insult him or her or it because why would I insult them when I don't even know what it is and this is all a big misunderstand-ack!" The last word is shouted as Blurr backs into the vender behind him. Dealer weighs helping Blurr against not having to listen to Blurr talk. He looks over the crowd, peering at the heads from behind the shoulder of some kind of giant reptoid invader, and not seeing any other Autobots, decides there's no one there to see him be a hero. Dreadwind would be plesantly surprised that he wasn't accused of being the one who threw that can but then if he did he'd probably be someone else like Octane for instance. No he knows that not being the one blamed means that something far far worse is going to blamed on him and by someone infinitly more powerful, great he's going to be cannoned by Galvatron... again. Dreadwind is barged aside as the big alien makes his move on the speedybot, stumbling sideways he almost ploughs straight through another vendors stall but saves himself at the last moment. Hi-Test runs over to Dreadwind, "Geez what's going on? Were you trying to talk to him Dread?" Dreadwind would be plesantly surprised that he wasn't accused of being the one who threw that can but then if he did he'd probably be someone else like Octane for instance. No he knows that not being the one blamed means that something far far worse is going to blamed on him and by someone infinitly more powerful, great he's going to be cannoned by Galvatron... again. Dreadwind is barged aside as the big alien makes his move on the speedybot, stumbling sideways he almost ploughs straight through another vendors stall but saves himself at the last moment. Hi-Test runs over to Dreadwind, "Geez what's going on? Were you trying to talk to him Dread?" Nightbeat has been looking for EXACTLY what the vendor has under the counter. As Blurr cries out, Nightbeat shoves a pile of credits at the vendor, who looks rather startled, grabs the super-charged flash, and takes off after Blurr on foot. He comes up behind the big alien, tries to tap it on the back, and blusters, "Excuse me, sir." "Haw haw, maybe this won't be so bad afterall!" Astrotrain pipes up, getting another refill on his drink and waving it towards the potential confrontation building up. That HE instigated! He'd totally claim he did it on purpose and not completely by accident. "Maybe we'll get to see an Autobot turned into crunched up tinfoil!" Hi-Test jumps up on his partner's shoulder for a better view of just what's going on and finally spots Astrotrain and Blurr who seems to have started a fight with the guy that barged past Dreadwind. "Come on Dreadwind head over there, Astrotrain has a good view of what's going to happen." Dreadwind sighs and his shoulders droop a little as he trudges over to his Decepticon minion but Hi-Test is ready for it and doesn't fall from his perch. Dealer slouches to hide amongst the crowd when some do-gooder goes throwing himself in harm's way. Hopefully it's not an Autobot- Dealer doesn't recognize Nightbeat in his disguise. So now Blurr is between a rock and a hard place... or rather, two angry aliens. "Hey," he dodges a fist, "hey," the merchant makes a grab for him and misses, "hey," he twists out of a second fist, "I keep telling you I didn't do," a leap over a kick, "anything this isn't my fault," a spin to avoid another grab from behind, "it's the Decepticon he threw the thing I had nothing to do with-" and he ducks again below another fist from the lumbering alien, so that he punches over his head and hits the merchant in the face. "-Whoops!" Then Nightbeat taps the large, lumbering thing on the back, and it turns around, fist raised and angry... just in time for the merchant to swing a thick wooden board at the other alien for punching him in the face! Too bad the wood just shatters into splinters, angering the big guy further but doing nothing to hurt him. Nightbeat says, "Any Autobots in the Black Market on Monacus, filter your optics to exclude frequency 517." Dealer surreptitiously turns his head and slinks away, filtering into the crowd. Combat: Dealer slips into the shadows and out of sight... Nightbeat is an Autobot, bud, though whether or not he deserves the badge is a valid question to ask. In a massive hurry, he flips open a panel on his arm, tugs free a few power cables, and quickly slots them into the flash. As the alien turns to him, angry and has a board broken on his head, Nightbeat smiles, quite insufferably, and he suggests, "Say 'Ardurian cheese'." Hopefully this will work... Combat: Nightbeat compares his Technical to 75: Failure :( ...uh oh, Nightbeat stands there, looking rather foolish! Blurr says, "Nightbeat! So hey you /are/ around here I thought you were because your transponder signal said you are but I couldn't see you even though I kept driving up and down the market are you hiding behind something or can you turn invisible now or OH that's you! Only what's that you've got and why did you want me to filter that frequency what was that about cheese anyway and maybe we'd better run!" Nightbeat says, "...gnn. Nevermind. Yeah. Running sounds good now." Dreadwind finally trudges over to astrotrain but doesn't even acknowledge him with a hello, well it's not as if Astrotrain is ever cordial to him with his constant barrage of verbal abuse whenever he tries to get people to see the terrible truth of reality. Astrotrain had clearly seen him coming and somehow managed to slip away before Dreadwind could reach him at the enerbeer garden. The duo watch the aliens as they deal with the Autobot and his dark helper or guy that seems to like posing oddly. "Hmm this will be interesting Dread, will the Autobot use force to settle this or run?" Dealer slips away unseen while Nightbeat fumbles with the special paparazzi super flashcube. Combat: Like the wind, Dealer is gone! Combat: Nightbeat searches for Dealer. Combat: Dealer has been found! Dealer has disconnected. Firestar has arrived. Firestar says, "Monacus? What're you guys doing on Monacus?" Nightbeat grumbles, "Shopping." It never goes well. Nightbeat says, "Eeesh, nosy dame!" Firestar says, "i'm on Monacus myself. I'll catch up with you." Blurr ducks his head and filters a certain frequency from his optics at Nightbeat's suggestion... and so he looks really confused look on his face when Nightbeat's ploy fails. He babbles a bit over the radio, and decides that now is definitely the time to be out of here. There's a big guy in front of him, an angry merchant behind him, the both seem angry at both Blurr and each other (and in addition, the big guy looks rather irritated with Nightbeat). Rather nearby are Hi-Test and Dreadwind as well. The big guy turns back towards Blurr and the merchant, swinging again and not carrying who he hits... which turns out to be someone else entirely because Blurr is quickly dashing around the alien, and the alien has swung wide. At this point, a whole, large brawl is breaking out, and it's liable to result in shots aimed at anyone nearby (including the Decepticon). "Time to get out of here," Blurr starts, "these guys are looking mean and angry and they don't seem to much care who they're hitting or what they're hitting them with and I think that some of them just might be big enough to do some real damage and there's also the Decepticons here to cause problems and we already have enough of them so I don't think we need anymore problems!" he tells Nightbeat as he joins the other Autobot, a quick, nervous dart of his head making it obvious that he's spotted Dreadwind by now. Blurr says, "But wait a minute if you're close enough to join us doesn't that mean you're on Monacus too because Monacus isn't very close to Earth or Cybertron especially not since they moved it and even *I* can't get from Earth to Monacus that quickly so I know you can't and anyway I'm here to get Nightbeat so why are you here?" Firestar takes a second to piece together Blurr's rambling. "Trying to find something for... Someone. For a gift." Nightbeat says, "Get him a fire hose." Firestar humphs as her secret is pried open like a can with a pull-tab. "He already has several." A big red truck from space looks a little less conspicuous here than on Earth, except that nobody is at the wheel. The windows are tinted though. Firestar drives into the shadier part of town, because hey, where else are you going to find a gritty detective and his plucky comic-releaf sidekick? All they need now is the dame. A few bug-eyed hooligans eye her rims, but this is one truck that isn't going to get jacked without a fight. Blurr says, "Oh a gift who's it for huh a fire hose well that's a strange gift but you said he has several but who would have that many firehoses I mean they're not the sort of thing you just collect like scrumball cards or anything like that and why would someone even *want* a fire- OH! I GET IT!" Dreadwind sighs as Blurr accuses him of being a trouble maker, and while Hi-Test might well be he would rather do nothing at all, making things just leads to trouble and wasted effort. He does however continue his external moanalogue, "No listen, he runs away, even my presence here is enough to scare the Autobot away, no one will ever be my friend Hi-Test, i shall forever remain alone in a universe teeming with suffering dying beings..." Nightbeat says, "...can I just stay lost?" Nightbeat is old enough to remember Dealer. Detail oriented enough to remember that Dealer is DEAD. There was a real nice memorial to a swell guy and all. There are questions to be asked, but Rodimus Prime sent him off on vacation. Dealer trying to slip away is actually what draws Nightbeat's attention - but Dealer is gone before Nightbeat can ask THE QUESTION. Given that there is a rather angry alien, he transforms and swerves about, knocking over a fruit stall. Those poor apples! Firestar says, "Hey, if YOU'RE up to something, it's probably dangerous. And if it's dangerous, I want in." Blurr says, "No you can't because I have to bring you back and I can't go back until I bring you back and I've been away long enough so I really really want to go home so PLEASE come home because I'm not leaving without you." Nightbeat says, "...fine. To both o' ya." "Hey be careful," starts Blurr, "there's a fruit stall there and oh too late they're everywhere and... oh no!" The last exclamation happens as the apples roll into the brawl, tripping people up and adding to the general chaos, further angering the combatants. Several people lose their footing entirely, and Blurr winces before he transforms. "We'd better be careful driving through all this because there aren't a lot of open spaces and look!" at 'look,' he races into an opening that closes immediately behind him while he finishes, "there's an opening!" Meanwhile, one of the combatants tripped up by the apples stumbles directly towards Dreadwind - if the Decepticon doesn't move, the guy may fall on him! Blurr transforms into his Blue Hovercar mode. Nightbeat is fast. He's got a top speed of 620 mph. He has enhanced senses that give him great reflexes. He's a turtle next to Blurr. So when Blurr says there is an opening, all Nightbeat can do is brake hard, drifting, and make a sharp turn to go around, muttering sullenly, "Gee thanks, buddy." He'd like to see something fall on the Decepticon, though. Hi-Test stares as the large alien stumbles his direction and without a thought he drops down behind Dreadwind and with a familiar transforming sound disappears. Dreadwind just stares it's almost as if he can't even see the ruckus going on the barging, the pushing, the shouted warnings. It's of no interest to him, in fact nothing is, he doesn't shift either as the alien barrels into him knocking him to the ground in a pile with a few others dragged down by flailing limbs. An impromptu dogpile is created with Dreadwind buried at the bottom, a muffled complaining drone can be heard but thankfully not understood. Fire Rescue Truck skirts around the edge of the growing brawl, a sea of swarming colours and shapes and noise. What a mess! She tries to nudge a few pedestrians out of her way, while her sensors scan for the Autobots. "Nightbeat! Blurr!" she emits. Pity this seach n' rescue chick hasn't got a radar. "What's going /on/?" Blue Hovercar jinks, jags, swerves and jerks his way through the fray, babbling out directions the whole time and unaware that he's unaccompanied. Although he doesn't avoid quite *everything* (and makes it out with a few more dents for his trouble), he still manages quite well, all in all, eventually joining Firestar. And, because she's not moving fast enough for his taste, he circles around her a couple of times before realizing that Nightbeat /isn't/ with him. "Oh no oh no he's still back there why's he still back there the path was right in front of us and I told him the right way to move and everything," he begins. Nightbeat is struggling through the crowd, trying to make it over to where Blurr is circling Firestar and get away from the dogpile on Dreadwind. However, the market stalls are like a maze. Because he is in a hurry, a number of people try to carry large glass plates in front of him, forcing him to make more hasty turns. Hack Helper -> Nightbeat's posed. Dreadwind is now at the bottom of a pile of aliens that are now starting to fight each other in order to try and stand up. Dreadwind just lies there, sure they're heavy and will likely cause some damage but the real trouble will start as soon as he tries to get out himself. So why bother? No it's far better to just let everyione kill each other first and then gradually dig your way free of the carnage. It's not the first time Dreadwind has been buried alive at least this time it's a relatively soft and squishy burial. "Blurr! Where's Nightbeat?" Firestar asks, although clearly the gritty detective is still somewhere in the chaotic swarm. She doesn't bother to ask Blurr to slow down, although his circles are making her dizzy. "Hey! you can hover! Can you get high enough to see Nightbeat?" Ravage has arrived. "This wasn't my fault!" Blurr is explaining to Firestar. It's entirely possible that he's been explaining things for some time now. "Astrotrain started it all he threw something at the guy behind me or I think maybe it was at me but I'm not sure because it didn't hit me it hit the Decepticon jet and it hit some other guy and he got angry and I tried to tell him it wasn't my fault but he kept trying to hit me so of course I ducked only he hit the person behind me and then Nightbeat was talking about cheese and that's not really how it works," Blurr's rambling suddenly changes direction as Firestar asks him about his hovering, "I can't really fly I can only hover so I need to keep something beneath me pretty close which means I can't get all that high in the air althooooooough... I can drive real fast!" Blurr suddenly guns it towards a stand that's been leaning against one of the buildings, moving from a stop to fast enough to crack the sound barrier in just an instant. He drives completely up the wall and into the air, his momentum carrying him above the building. He transforms as he begins to fall, grasping the edge of the roof before pulling himself on top and looking around. While Blurr practises parkour, the Porsche can be seen trying to make his way past a semi-conductor booth - he stopped there earlier. Nice place. Lots of Pandoran goodies. There are still a few angry aliens after him. One looks like an allosaurus in a top hat and the other seems to be Torqulonese. Dreadwind of course has lost all track of the Autobots, not that he was following them all that closely, he should want revenge for what they did but unfortunately a full scale brawl has broken out over his prone form. As the jeers from onlookers have angered some of the already upset fallees. A couple have already passed out on top of him having failed to continue breathing thanks to the crush of bodies and a few well places kicks to the head. Unfortunately for Dreadwind he doen't need to breath so he's likely going to survive this with little more than surface injuries, he can never catch a break. Blue Hovercar looks out over the fray, and he's looking quickly, because he does everything quickly. However, it's easy to miss Nightbeat in his un-Nightbeatish paint job, and his optics pass over the Detective several times before he finally spots him. "Hey I found him Firestar he's right over there but there's a Dinobot with a hat on after him oh wait that's not a Dinobot that's just a dinosaur simple mistake really anyway he's pretty close to you but there's a big stand between you two and it looks like it might be holding weapons so I'd be careful going past it or do you just want me to go because I can do that really easy except that I can't really clear a way because the ways keep getting closed back up around here!" Sometimes people think Firestar is a hovertruck. But, no, she has wheels and is firmly stuck to the ground. Before he can really respond to Blurr, the bljue guy is off like a shot, dashing up am impromptu ramp and up to the rooftops. she transforms as she gets the info from Blurr. "Good job on the recon, Blurr! now, how to extricate Nightbeat... A distraction!" She snaps her fingers in a 'eureka!' moment. She focuses her attention on a nearby rooftop(one not containing a Blurr), and sets it on fire. "Oh NO a FIRE! Lookout, before it spreads to this dangerous shop full of /highly explosive weapons/!" The red truck flips up into the sleek femme Firestar. Blue Hovercar stares at the roof Firestar just set on fire. "Wow you're a /horrible/ firefighter!" he exclaims, shocked into even more tactlessness than usual. "I mean aren't firefighters supposed to stop fires not start them but you just started one and you don't even know who's in that building and I know this is Monacus and all but you know not EVERYONE who lives here is evil and it could be some innocent-" he cuts himself off, optics wide as he realizes what he's saying. "Be right back!" he adds, transforming and driving back down the wall before zipping through the panicking crowd - directly *towards* the nearest entrance of the flaming building. Nightbeat transforms, uses his momentum to fuel a leap, and throws himself over a row of stands as the propane tank on a sausage truck goes up in flames. This makes for a very action movie style shot, and he hits the ground and rolls, at Firestar's feet as the explosion subsides. He looks up at her. "Thought I'd drop in." "I'm usually pretty good at putting the fires out again when I have to, Blurr." "Usually." she adds. Also, Firestar is not actually a firefighter, because in the 80's in cartoonland only men could be firefighters. she's just a firefighter's /woman/. Firestar smirks at Nightbeat's cinematic arrival. Pity he already called the 'drop in' gag. "Right, glad you could make it. but now we have to rescue Blurr!" Only moments after entering the building, Blurr is back out of it. He transforms, sets a couple of organics down - just Skuxxoids, if that's even how you spell it, actually - and darts back to the other two in time to catch the last of what Firestar has to say. "Huh why would I need to be rescued I'm right here I mean sure I was in there but I had to check to see if anyone was in there and there was but they're out now because I got them out but you shouldn't worry about me because the fire can't catch me it's /way/ too slow but that's really nice of you to be worried about me!" Nightbeat briefly contemplates ordering Blurr to go to Alkor Zephyr to get Muzzle a pizza. Instead, he just groans, gets up, and stares out at the flames and the angry mob. He looks at Firestar. He looks at Blurr. After a beat, Nightbeat hollers, "Autobots, retreat!" turns back into a car, and does just that. Nightbeat slouches down into Porsche 959 form. Time to roll. Combat: Porsche 959 begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Blue Hovercar Blue Hovercar protests, "What? Retreat? But this isn't a fight well I mean except that everyone is fighting but it's not like a /real/ fight with sides and everything because they're all fighting each other and it's really just a mess and I'm out of here!" Blurr babbles as he pulls ahead of Nightbeat. Combat: Blue Hovercar begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit. "Seriously, it's only a little fire. We'd probably better bug out before we get into any /worse/ trouble." Firestar replies. She's not usually one to get going just because things get rough, but Nightbeat is safe, afterall, and that's why she got into this mess in the first place. "Wait up guys!" She adds, and trundles along after them.